CBS anchor Dan Rather said long stretches of the first Bush-Gore encounter Tuesday were "pedantic, dull, unimaginative, lackluster, humdrum -- you pick the words."

"Governor Bush's father was criticized for looking at his watch during the presidential debate in 1992, but there were many across the country tonight doing much the same thing," he said.

CNN's Candy Crowley said that in the first half of the debate, "We were in danger of getting hit by flying numbers."

Several network pundits said Republican George W. Bush stood to gain the most by not appearing to wilt under the pressure.

"What was plainly obvious was that the Texas governor did have a grasp or balance of the issues," said NBC's David Gregory. "It was a serious exchange between the two of them, and that is going to be seen as a victory."

ABC's George Stephanopoulos, a former aide to President Clinton, said Vice President Al Gore dominated both in terms of how much he talked and in being able to steer the conversation to issues that helped him.

"Then he started to swagger a bit too much," Stephanopoulos said.

"Al Gore was annoying, I thought," conservative commentator William Kristol said on Fox News Channel.

And so it went. ABC and CNN used groups of voters, supposedly including several who were undecided, and interviewed them. The ABC panel indicated Bush did well; more of the CNN group favored Gore.

Cable network MSNBC employed NBC correspondent Lisa Myers and a group of researchers as a "truth squad" to look for misstatements of fact.

Earlier Tuesday, the head of the Federal Communications Commission criticized Fox and NBC for not airing the debate live. Fox showed a drama, "Dark Angel," and NBC gave its stations the option of carrying the debate or the American League baseball playoff between the New York Yankees and Oakland Athletics.

Broadcasters have an obligation to serve the public given their free use of the public airwaves, FCC Chairman William Kennard said.

"This is a fundamental obligation that is not tradable," Kennard said. "All the networks should be covering all of the debates live."

Gore and Bush took conservative approaches to attire. Each wore a dark suit, white shirt and red tie that looked patriotic against the blue television background.

Moderator Jim Lehrer often had trouble keeping the candidates to time limits, reminding each that they themselves had set the rules for the debate. There were no outbursts from the audience, though, perhaps because of an offstage warning by Lehrer.

"I've been known to turn around and humiliate people in front of everyone they've ever known in the world," Lehrer said.

It won't be known until Wednesday how many people watched. The most-watched presidential debate, between Ronald Reagan and Jimmy Carter in 1980, drew 80 million people.

As he ended ABC's coverage, Peter Jennings reported on a "snap poll" that revealed 42 percent of viewers thought Gore had won the debate and 39 percent thought Bush did better. Jennings all but wadded up the results and threw them away.

"It all seems to be pretty meaningless and totally unscientific," he said.